The End Is Nigh - let's see your best 6 from 2014

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Originally Posted by GrumpyDiver

Tough call. I have a lot to choose from, so narrowing things down to six is quite challanging. I think what is most important to me is that in 2014, I made a transition from being mostly a landscape / cityscape photographer and got more into shooting people. I started down this road late last year, but spent a lot of this year honing my technique.

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Lovely set, Manfred - #2 ad #5 are my picks, but no doubt you'd come up with at least 6 x 6 if you were just going through images from your monster trip !

Difficult to pick a favourite here, Gary - they're all great. First and last are just edging it for me though. I was so jealous when a colleague in my department won a trip in January 2015 to accompany other staff and customers for a 5 day road test of the new Land Rover Discovery Sport in Iceland - v v high on my bucket list!

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Originally Posted by Black Pearl

Difficult to chose but fun to trawl through LR and look at what I've shot this year.

Random and possibly not my very best shots but here are six that I like personally.

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Great light in #3 and a great cover in #4, Robin

First, there have been some beautiful pictures posted so far. My compliments to everyone who has shared. 2014 was my second year as what i suppose I'd call a hobbyist photographer. Here are my six favorites.

The first three were all taken early in the morning on my vacation to Northern Wisconsin. I went out early in a canoe to try to photograph some loons and ended up with a ton of other pictures along with the loons. (the first one got 3rd place in my first monthly competition entry:))

http://i62.tinypic.com/294km1k.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/ml4204.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/978uqc.jpg

This one was from the same trip, a quick snapshot of my son

http://i57.tinypic.com/2mzmd69.jpg

I got up early to shoot the blood moon/lunar eclipse

http://i57.tinypic.com/2ueppu8.jpg

and some fall leaves

http://i57.tinypic.com/bg6a7q.jpg

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Originally Posted by MarvinTheSpartan

2014 was my second year as what i suppose I'd call a hobbyist photographer.

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Only your second year? Very well done!

What a wonderful idea & there are indeed some spectacular images in the series from everyone so far. I will hopefully be brave enough to join this thread with some examples of my own soon. I'm hesitant to do so, amidst such stellar company, but hopefully I'll get brave between now & December 31!

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Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

Only your second year? Very well done!

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Thank you! I saw yours posted on page 1, very nice work.

Hi All -

Well I picked up a DSLR in July 2014 and have been at it for 6 months. I thought I would at least contribute, knowing that my work is not of the calibre of others (yet), but I am still proud of what I have done and learned in just 6 months. Enjoy and I welcome any feedback.

One of my favourites, just after the rain at Heidelberg Castle
http://i59.tinypic.com/2z8diwz.jpg

Castle Illuminations - it happens 3 times a year. On the third one I was finally able to get the exposure and photo I had in my mind.
http://i62.tinypic.com/9fvght.jpg

Just trying different angles and found this footpath, catching a time when nobody was around and no rain was a challenge, but I succeeded.
http://i62.tinypic.com/2vtuzj9.jpg

A photo of Mont Blanc from Canton Vaud in Switzerland. This photo is result of many interations in PP to get to a point I was happy.
http://i62.tinypic.com/2mn0ty1.jpg

The ubiquitous Christmas Tree Ornament Picture. Had fun with the tree and trying different techniques.
http://i60.tinypic.com/10fuwrk.jpg

Stumbled upon this scene walking home from the Christmas Market. I am pleased with the exposure and photo, with very little done in PP. Pretty good for a couple of Glühweins....:)
http://i60.tinypic.com/30mooqb.jpg

Like I said, not the best and up to the calibre of others but I am proud of where I have gone in 2014. It is great to see others work and I can only inspire to reach those levels.

Enjoy and Happy New Year

Erik, I enjoyed your photos - thanks for posting them. I particularly liked the footpath photo (it looks slippery) and the shot of Mont Blanc - I imagine you were dealing with eliminating haze in it in pp.

You're off to a good addiction...ummm, start, Erik. I especially like the photo of the stone pathway.

A spider that was on the floor in my work site. My coworkers were treated to the site of me lying on my stomach, inching as close as possible to this arachnid. :)
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7573/...7af6a97701.jpgspider_GAM_5918 by gmontjr, on Flickr

A B&W conversion in Picasa of a tree alongside the old Delaware & Raritan Canal in central New Jersey.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7519/...c709b91714.jpgD&R_DSC9265 by gmontjr, on Flickr

A Forster's Tern at Forsythe NWR in southeastern NJ
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5613/...793911357b.jpgforster's_tern_DSC0848 by gmontjr, on Flickr


Pine Barrens Gentian flower, a threatened species, growing by the side of a road in southern NJ
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5600/...b4143bfebf.jpggentian_DSC0469 by gmontjr, on Flickr

Painted Lady butterfly on Joe Pye Weed, Atsion Lake, southern NJ
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3927/...b6a7c44498.jpgpainted lady_GAM_5109 by gmontjr, on Flickr


Sunset along Rt 206 in Burlington County, NJ
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3873/...1c7a24f7b4.jpgsunset_DSC9149 by gmontjr, on Flickr

As the end gets nigher, I have overcome my intimidation by the quality of others' pictures. I still can't judge whether these are good, or better than some of my others.

Green tree snake

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7329/...372734da_b.jpg

View from the train window

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7548/...21024183_b.jpg

Queensland cane fields

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3931/...75ab220e_b.jpg


Queensland Art Gallery

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3853/...8edda300_b.jpg

Brisbane Mall

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5558/...2d77373e_b.jpg

Blasted cactus

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2901/...ebdf3468_b.jpg

The notion of contributing to this thread was initially a bit intimidating, particularly after viewing the extraordinary photographs already posted. On the other hand part of the motivation for being here is recognizing that I grow by sharing what I'm doing with others and learning better ways to do things as well as alternative ways of seeing something. I started looking through my Lightroom Library and quickly became overwhelmed trying to select my "best" of 2014. Since most of my best images have evolved as a result of advice received in these forums I am showing images that I've posted here in 2014.

1.) Surfer At Dawn - My first attempt at photographing surfers and I was blessed with the unique situation of people surfing in the fog at dawn.
http://www.pbase.com/andrewmcd/image...7/original.jpg

2.) Woman On The Beach - With this picture I got a glimpse at the idea of a different way of looking at things; different from the way I normally see stuff.
http://www.pbase.com/andrewmcd/image...8/original.jpg

3.) Tidal Mudflat With Birds - I was driving down the road and caught this scene out of the corner of my eye. I feel the picture has a bit of a painterly look that exactly captured the experience of being there.
http://www.pbase.com/andrewmcd/image...6/original.jpg

4.) Tug And Tow - A consequence of being in the right place at the right time.
http://www.pbase.com/andrewmcd/image...5/original.jpg

5.) The North College Avenue Crossing - This is one of my favorites from the year. It benefitted tremendously from cropping and anti-flare suggestions I received here.
http://www.pbase.com/andrewmcd/image...1/original.jpg

6.) Bunker Blues - I never imagined myself going off in this direction but I like it.
http://www.pbase.com/andrewmcd/image...4/original.jpg


So there we go, some of the highlights of my 2014 photographic efforts. The really fun thing is that looking back at these images I see how much I've learned yet I've only barely scratched the surface. Happy New Year to all as we go off in pursuit of the Best 6 for 2015!

Certainly not my best but, one that I will remember vividly as the only time that snow ever came to visit my home in San Diego County, California. Shot before dawn because by full light, most was melted...

http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-BSHXSNK-L.jpg

This is one of my favorites. It is my first attempt at this type of work.

http://i57.tinypic.com/2hegger.jpg

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Originally Posted by rpcrowe

Certainly not my best but, one that I will remember vividly as the only time that snow ever came to visit my home in San Diego County, California. Shot before dawn because by full light, most was melted...

http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-BSHXSNK-L.jpg

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Snow in San Diego?

i was lucky to take 6 photos this year. we had an incredibly rough year at work, starting in the spring with bee swarms and a tornado and we're just now starting to get back on our feet.

the clean up of the previously mentioned tornado. i work in dispatch and we were tracking a heavy storm going through the area. i was due to get off around 5pm and was walking out the door when they told us there were reports of a tornado touch down. initial info was that a house was destroyed. they didn't think they'd need my shift so we continued home. on the way home i got the call that the trailer next to my grandparents house was completely destroyed. they were still looking for the guy inside. he was found with relatively minor injuries considering the fact that the trailer had been lifted off of it's pad, spun for several seconds and dropped 25' away from where it had been. a few calls to my workplace got me through the closure point and i was able to take my grandparents and great aunt and uncle to my place for the night. this is 3 days later at my great aunt and uncle's house during the big clean up.
https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/71650...576bc6d6487377

this is from a failed trip to the outer banks in august. by the time i arrived the road was impassable due to flooding and the heavy rains were expected to stay for the remainder of the weekend. so i went into the town of roanoke marshes, snapped a few shots of the lighthouse and left for my old college town in western north carolina.
https://ppcdn.500px.org/78709309/8fe...e272d022/4.jpg

the blacksmith's shop at a historical park a few hours from my house. wandered around the park which was deserted due to a snowstorm.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7540/...9b4c8c94_b.jpg

one of the storm drain pipes that take water back to the ocean. these used to be rocky jetties, but now they were uncovered a few years ago. went to play with some long exposure shots. the color sucked (i blame new jersey) so i went with monochrome.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/...e895c032_b.jpg

one of the few rocky beaches in florida. i wanted a nice, colorful sunset, but that didn't happen. it rained on this trip too.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7488/...8707cc96_b.jpg

and the last is from a trip down skyline drive in shenandoah national park. this was the only trip i took this year that didn't include torrential downpours, but it was foggy all weekend. some of the trails looked vastly different than what i'm used to in clearer weather. this was one closer to the southern end of the park. it felt very magical at the time.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7577/...4685ee41_b.jpg

A very nice series, Beth. I really, really like the lighthouse photo. Strong work!

Not up to the standard of most others, but here goes:

This one because it is an extraordinary landscape:

http://i61.tinypic.com/20hu7sz.jpg


This because it's one of the few times I have "thought" black and white:


http://i62.tinypic.com/2n9bb0i.jpg



And this because the expression cracks me up:


http://i58.tinypic.com/wa1qu1.jpg


Happy New Year

Dave

Back from that Soul Vacation - Nightsky at Wallaman Falls in North Queensland
14mm f/2.8 30 secs ISO 2500
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7484/...b05e8040_o.jpg

Let there be Light - Panorama of Grand Canyon from Point Imperial
6 vertical images stitched. Taken at 26mm f/16 1/40sec ISO200 + 2 stop soft GND
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7518/...48b74037_o.jpg

Symmetry - Lone Mangrove at Bushland Beach in North Queensland
50mm f/13 5secs ISO 400 + 6 stop ND
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3885/...4b6dc68a_o.jpg

Transcendence - Light beam at Canyon X in Arizona
16mm f/16 3 secs ISO 400
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5570/...4546b625_o.jpg


Starscape Silhouette - A banksia tree silhouetted against the milky way
14mm f/2.8 30secs ISO 2000
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8681/...608a42f5_o.jpg

Wheels Through Time - Workshop bike
26mm f/4 1/80sec ISO 3200
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7552/...74d3e498_o.jpg